PORTLAND, OR – After a lengthy illness, Saab seems to have died, entering the largest liquidation in Swedish history.
Journalists wrote the obituary. But for those closely tied to the auto maker, such as dealers, there are things left to do. To others, there is a glimmer of hope.
As soon as Swedish Saab filed bankruptcy, putting an end to warranties and supplies of new parts, some U.S. Saab dealers began slashing prices. And customers began looking for killer bargains.
A dealer in Illinois, eager to clear the lot, offered thousands of dollars off most models. But at other dealerships, the sticker price of a new Saab actually increased.
That put a spike through sales.
“No one is coming into the showrooms to buy,” says dealer Marty Adams of Meyer Garage Saab of McIntire, IA. “Well, there are a few coming in. But they’re looking simply to get a steal. I had one guy offer me $10,000 for a $35,000 9-3 model.”
Online shopping for new Saabs increased 10% in the weeks following the bankruptcy announcement, according to Dataium, a tracker of online automotive shopping. The upward trend continued even after Saab announced it would suspend warranty coverage.
New shoppers flocked to the brand, evidently interested in deep discounts, Dataium says. But shopping doesn’t always mean buying. At the end of the year, Saab days’ supply in the U.S. has risen from 172 to 221, despite a 9.5% decline in unit stock.
A day before the bankruptcy, corporate Saab offered an average of $6,000 in incentives on each new car sold. The day after the filing, incentives were gone, effectively raising the final purchase price for Saabs still on the lots.
In a conference call Saab Cars North America asked its remaining 188 dealers not to slash prices.
But Saab North America has hired a liquidation consultant of its own and has told dealers it cautiously hopes to carry on. But when it comes to parts and warranties, dealers have been left to their own devices.
Some dealers, such as Adams, are offering to stand behind factory warranties for customers who purchased their cars from them.
Although he will do warranty work for customers for a while, “I’ll have to reassess,” he says. As for reimbursement from Saab, “I’ll just cross that bridge when I come to it.
“Thankfully, Saab owners have been surprisingly supportive of us since the bankruptcy. The only people who have been freaked out are those who purchased their Saabs from used lots.”
Other dealerships, such as Gary Small Saab located here, halted warranty work altogether upon news of the bankruptcy, unsure of Saab’s future.
General Motors is legally obligated only to fulfill the warranties of vehicles sold during Saab’s GM ownership period.
For Small and other Saab dealers with no GM affiliation, the U.S. auto maker has been ignoring warranty claims. Independent extended-warranty companies are beginning to pitch packages to dealers.
Some independent shops have stepped up to the plate, offering to honor Saab warranties at little or no cost to owners despite having had nothing to do with the original sale of the vehicle.
One of them is Atomic Auto located here. Owner Travis Decker says, “Supporting the warranty repairs to new Saab owners not only displays our support for the brand, it strengthens the Saab community.” Atomic Auto now is supplying Saab parts globally.
Some people see the bright side and hold out hope.
“Let’s be clear,” says Jörgen Trued, editor of SaabsUnited, an owner-enthusiast publication. “This is the best possible thing that could have happened to Saab. Saab has been close to collapse many times before. Now they can start fresh.”
Talk of the possibility of some sort of miraculous resurrection “is all hearsay,” he acknowledges. “But I believe Saab will live on with the Phoenix.”
Ironically, Phoenix was the name of a platform Saab had hoped to launch next year.
